Property – Movie Review (3/5)

PROPERTY (org. title: Propriedade) is a Brazilian Thriller screening at Make Believe 2024. It’s a scary and dark tale where most people are villains in their own stories. Read our full Property movie review here!

PROPERTY is a Brazilian Thriller (org. title: Propriedade) screening at Make Believe 2024. It’s a movie that deals with many elements that may be familiar to you from social commentary movies. However, this takes place in the present and in Brazil, which does offer a very different perspective.

Ultimately, this is a revenge story and a survival story as we follow both the people wanting revenge and the woman trying to survive. Not many people are too likable as they get in the way of their own opportunities. Even when their chances of success are slim, they make the wrong choice.

Continue reading our Property movie review below. The film is screening at Make Believe 2024.

A different kind of survival story

In Property, we mostly follow a woman, who locks herself in her armored car to protect herself. Having just arrived at her family’s farm to discover that the workers are revolting is a shock to the woman. It would be to anyone, of course, but more so for her.

When Property opens, it’s with a scene of a hostage situation filmed on a cellphone. Then it’s years later, and we will come to learn that the woman was the hostage and has been living a very reclusive life ever since.

Having left her home for the first time in a long while, she arrives at this violent scene. Though armored, her little world is now only a layer of glass away from colliding with angry workers.

To be fair to her, she really cannot help them, and at least some of them have made it clear that they want to kill her. It’s a claustrophobic thriller in many ways, but our main character is used to being secluded, so that isn’t the worst thing. What she sees through the armored windows of her car is!

When people are property

In Property (org. title: Propriedade), the title refers both to a place and people. Most of the story plays out at a farm, where the workers have just been informed that the farm is closing. The property will become a hotel instead.

The big problem for these workers is that they not only work there but also live on the farm. They have no homes to go to, and their papers are also locked away along with their paychecks. Plus, it turns out quite a few of them have unsettled debt as well. It’s a sh*tshow. To put it mildly.

And while many of the people working on the farm are their own worst enemies, they never really had a chance in life. Sure, drinking, smoking, and gambling don’t help, but many of them were born into this life.

In fact, at one point, an older woman speaks of her son and states that he left when he was 14 years old, and that is what they all should’ve done: Left a long time ago. Instead, they now fight to stay because they have no other options in life.

Check out Property when you can

Daniel Bandeira is the writer and director of Property which was finished in 2022. It’s now still playing at film festivals worldwide. It won “Best Picture” in the main competition at Fantastic Fest 2023.

I think the story in this genre-bending movie is one people need to watch. Especially as I imagine not many of us are familiar with the situation and life of farm workers in Brazil. Also, as a fan of genre movies, you will get to watch scenes that feel straight out of a horror movie.

We’ve reviewed several Brazilian series and movies at Heaven of Horror over the years, and they also tend to have heart and passion. They often feature stories that deal with the harsh truths of living in a country where the poor are still being pushed down. Even as economic prosperity enriches the lives of others.

While I wanted some of the characters (rich and poor) to be more likable, I also recognize that this isn’t their job. A story is being told that shines a light on how things are. The result is a movie you won’t be able to forget anytime soon.

Property (org. title: Propriedade) is getting its West Coast Premiere at Make Believe 2024. We’ll update this review with wider release information when it becomes available.

Details

Director: Daniel Bandeira
Screenwriter: Daniel Bandeira
Cast: Malu Galli, Zuleica Ferreira, Tavinho Teixeira